Silently, woman guilty with James makes a statement

Tamika Riley used to tell her clients to "make a statement without saying a word."

Yesterday morning, when a federal jury found her guilty of fraud, conspiracy and tax violations, charges that could put her in jail for four to seven years, Riley practiced what she preached.

When the verdict was read aloud at the Martin Luther King Federal Courthouse in Newark, Riley, 39, didn't say a word.

Afterward, when she pushed through a crush of media shouting questions at her, she didn't say a word.

Riley, half her face hidden by her trademark dark sunglasses, left the courthouse through the front door, flanked by her attorney, Gerald Krovatin, who was grimacing, and her mother, Linda West. Reporters ran alongside her, asking, "Tamika! How do you feel?" and "Tamika, are you prepared to go to jail?" Riley didn't say a word.

Edward Smalls, who identified himself as Riley's brother, was more forthcoming: "My sister is innocent," he said in a telephone interview. "She did everything by the book."

People who know her say Riley is angry at the media for what she saw as an unfair portrayal of herself last July when she was charged, along with former mayor Sharpe James, her former lover, following a three-year FBI investigation.

Riley's first step into the public spotlight was unfortunate: walking in handcuffs from a Jersey City row house in a cleavage-baring tank top and chest-length hair extensions.

That was not the glamorous image she'd cultivated as an aspiring entertainment publicist and fashion entrepreneur.

She had often appeared to live fabulously -- driving a Mercedes-Benz, sporting trendy outfits, socializing with rappers and pro basketball players, taking lavish trips with the state's most powerful mayor.

There was another side of Riley, though -- that of a failed businesswoman who relied on public housing assistance and couldn't make her car payments. Beneath the showy veneer, Riley was often desperate -- fending off bill collectors and asking friends to help finance business deals.

A former flight attendant and UPS supervisor, Riley once told a magazine interviewer that she was inspired as a child to go into fashion by the television soap "Dynasty." That dream took shape in the 1990s, when she opened a boutique in Newark and arranged local fashion shows.

Riley liked the high life, Diane Fuller-Coleman, a former mentor, testified at trial. She sought out the company of powerful people. Her goal was to "make a million," she said.

Riley was also resilient. When her boutique went bankrupt, she created Tamika Riley Images, a marketing company that soon counted rapper Ja Rule and basketball star Eric Williams among its clients.

But at home, life wasn't so bright. Riley needed public assistance to cover rent on her Jersey City apartment, federal agents said. She missed $9,000 in payments on her Mercedes, triggering action by a bill collector. Her taxes were in disarray.

Her fortunes turned after she met James and, with no apparent experience as a developer, jumped into real estate.

Through her marketing company, Riley started buying up city land, borrowing money at first from friends. She made nine purchases between 2001 and 2005 for a total of $46,000. She ultimately sold the properties for nearly $700,000.

At one point, she reportedly told federal agents she felt like "$700,000 worth of ass."

Federal agents investigating James knocked on Riley's door at 7 a.m. Oct. 4, 2006. She answered the door in her pajamas and invited them in for an interview.

For the next six months or so, FBI and IRS agents interviewed her another half-dozen times. She became a key witness against the former mayor. Then, for reasons that have not been disclosed publicly, she cut off her talks with the government, hired a high-profile lawyer, Krovatin, and started preparing to fight criminal charges.

Ambitious to the end, she took one last shot at coming out on top. She went to trial with James and lost.

"My sister got railroaded, plain and simple," Smalls said. "The only reason she got a guilty verdict is because of him (James). They wanted that man for years...and they finally got him. It just hurts when they take an innocent person with him."

After yesterday's guilty verdict, Riley looked stunned.

She climbed behind the wheel of a black GMC Yukon, her attorney riding shotgun, her mother in the back seat, and drove away.